Thursday, September 17, 2009

A Question for Charles Gatewood

This is a triptych of images, all taken in front of the New York County Supreme Court building at 60 Centre Street in Lower Manahttan. On the left is the original, a fairly well-known Henri Cartier-Bresson picture from 1947. In the center is an image taken some 30 years later by the photographer Charles Gatewood. Gatewood's image appears in his 1984 limited-edition book titled "Wall Street," which I bought in 1998 or so. Look at how the pillars line up in both images, and in particular the gaps in between the pillars. Although Gatewood is shooting with a wider lens, he is clearly standing in the same exact spot as HCB. My question for Gatewood is, was this intentional or purely coincidental? An homage or entirely happenstance? I noticed this early 2001 and within a few days had my own version of the scene from nearly the same spot (far right).